Sale 2675
New York
|
31 January 2013
Price realised
USD 40,000
Estimate
Edward Lear (London 1812-1888 San Remo, Italy) Paxos dated and numbered '5.45 April 8./1863/(21)' (lower right) and inscribed 'The campanile is only very faintly seen at times,/through the veil of olives. It is ochkry [sic] w_ gy.' (lower right) and extensively inscribed in Greek and with color notes (lower left) pencil, pen and ink and watercolor heightened with touches of bodycolor, on buff paper 14¾ x 21½ in. (37.5 x 54.6 cm.)
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Lear wrote of Paxos, 'The difficulty in making Paxos picturesque. It reminds one of a Cornwall or Devon Cove without its picturesque houses. Great quiet is its characteristic.' For a note on Lear's time in Greece, see lot 155.
Saleroom Notice
We are grateful to Jeremy Jefferies for identifying the subject of the watercolor as the village of Fontana and pointing out that the campanile is still there but the tall first floor arch was blocked many years ago.
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